In Communication, Language and  Literacy, we have been experiencing exciting Art themed stories such as ‘Bob the Artist’ and will be moving onto the story ‘The Dot’ next half term.  Using our range of communication strategies we have been learning about colour, mark making tools, different artists and their work. We have been getting creative in our CLL story sessions and have been mimic different artists work eg. Jackson Pollock and his squiggly lines, and Damien Hirst and his spots.

In Mathematics we have been learning about counting in different contexts and ways in Number and learning about Money in SSM. In number we have been engaging in different counting games using technology and the touch screen, learning to take turns with our peers to use the screen to count different sea creatures, we have also engaged in turn taking games such as pop up pirate and connect 4 with a twist! We have been putting more than one sword in the barrel when requested by an adult eg. can you put 3 swords in. We have also been using HelpKidzLearn to engage in different cause and effect games and number songs, we have been using communication methods to request what games and songs we want to play and using different resources to cement our understanding of counting. In SSM we have been going to the immersive suite to experience a supermarket! We have used tills and purses to pay for different items and enjoyed handling and exchanging money. We have been learning to recognise 1p and 2p coins.

In PSED we have been learning about keeping safe around school and hand hygiene. We have been going on safety walks around school to practice safe behaviour, we have been responding to visuals eg. no running, hold bannister when walking down the stairs. We have been working really hard to listen to adults and hold their hand, also to make sure our friends go through the door first before shutting it. We have also been learning how and when to wash our hands. We have been following different steps to wash our hands eg. How do we rub soap into our hands properly? How do we rinse our hands in the sink or in a bowl? Can we dry our hands thoroughly? We have also been doing activities linked to washing our hands eg. cooking and going to the bathroom to use the sinks with more independence.

In Understanding the World we have been doing Computing this half term and will be doing History next half term. In Computing we have been learning how to use google docs and google slides to make safety information posters. We have been making choices about fonts, pictures and titles for our posters using communication methods. We have then been using chromebooks with adult to support to use the keyboard to type and change fonts. We then printed out our posters and went round school sticking them up and giving them to different staff members.

In RE we have been learning about Sikhism through stories. We have been learning about different elements of Sikhism such as: being kind we did turn taking games with our friends to feel the emotions of being kind whilst playing with a friend, sharing and being kind to each other. We listened to the story of goodness and made ‘the bowl of goodness’ from the story using clay. We have been adding to our bowls throughout the weeks and sequencing the story using symbols.

In Expressive Arts and Design we have been doing Music this half term and will be doing Art next half term. In Music we have been using different communication methods to request different musical instruments such as: keyboards, maracas, guitars and ukuleles. We have been listening and experiencing different music to play our instruments alongside such as, Dancing Queen-ABBA, Strawberry Fields Forever-The Beatles and Hound Dog-Elvis. We have also been learning to respond and do actions to different music eg. can we wave material through the air to swan lake music, can we stop our feet and hold up pop tubes to The Jungle Book ‘Elephant March’.

In Physical Development our focus this half term we have been doing Ballet next half term we will be doing Disco. In Ballet we have been learning to hold different ballet poses such as a pilé, and jête. We have been learning to turn our feet in and out using foot markers with adult support and bend our knees. We have sequenced different poses we have been practising to make a ballet dance. 

In Communication, Language and  Literacy, we have been reading the story ‘Zog’ by Julia Donaldson. We have been learning to respond to the stimuli within the stories, using our voices and other forms of communication, such as PECs symbols. We have been building upon these skills throughout the half term.

In Mathematics we have been learning to take part in a counting sequence and have been doing this through various number songs, such as 5 little firefighters and 5 brown teddies. We have learned to use our fingers to count objects and take part in number songs as a group. 

In PSED we have been doing some retrieval work about emotions/feelings. We have been learning about what we do when we feel sad, happy, excited, shocked, angry. We have listened to and sang different songs linked to feelings eg. if you’re happy and you know it. We have copied adult actions when singing the songs and pulled different facial expressions linked to feelings. 

In Understanding the World we have been learning about the butterfly life cycle. We experienced the life cycle of a butterfly in real life and had caterpillars in class. Each week we investigated what was happening to the caterpillars using magnifying glasses. We used symbols to order the life cycle of the butterfly adding more symbols each week. We also experienced natural materials related to each stage of the life cycle through TACPAC. When the butterflies hatched we released them as a class in the science garden! 

In Expressive Arts and Design we have been learning about two artists: Sara Fanelli & Tony Meeuwissen. We experienced the art by looking at different pieces each week. We would then recreate the art communicating our choices of tools and materials using symbols or gestures. 

In Physical Development our focus this term we have been developing our skills in football. We have been learning to dribble, pass the ball to peers and adults and shoot the ball into goals. We even used all the skills we learnt and took part in a class 5 football match!